I had the privilege of working with the best team on my maternity shoot. This glam squad always knows how to make me feel beautiful, but I have to be honest, I haven’t gotten the whole warm and fuzzy feeling about my pregnant body being beautiful. Don’t get me wrong, I am so proud of my body and I’m so grateful to be able to create a home and grow my little one.
Don’t get me wrong, I am so proud of my body.
However, seeing my body look so different is still a little startling to me. It’s like I don’t fully recognize myself and almost like an out-of-body experience. Thoughts like, “Is that really me?” come to mind. I think it comes down to body acceptance vs body love. I think that you can love your body, no matter what shape or form, but it’s the acceptance part that trips me up a little.
I popped pretty early in pregnancy, and I had people say “I think you’re farther along than you think”, “Are you having twins?”—all very invasive things. However, I brushed those comments off as I do with any type of criticism. I think change can be hard, but I continue each day saying I love you to my body because it’s doing so much, and it’s creating is a beautiful miracle. I have to let the ego-mind go and appreciate that my body can even do this. It’s letting go of my own needs because the needs of my baby are more important.
I don’t know what my body will be like after the baby comes, but I do know I’m going to give it time, let it heal, and take really good care of it. I wanted to share this because I’m sure that like a lot of other people, I felt ashamed that I was uncomfortable at first. Yet, it’s important to honor how you feel and understand that everyone has a different experience with pregnancy.
Xoxo
-Ashley